Disclaimers - Well, I was in a silly mood tonight, as you
will soon see :)  This little scenario just sorta...
developed as I wrote, and it hasn't been beta read, so be
warned.  These characters aren't mine, etc. etc.  You know
the drill.  Permission is granted to archive at the ftp
site, and fkfanfic.com.  Comments, questions, and whatnot
may be sent to Diane Harris at [email protected].

Nat stared at the corpse on the table with an ever
increasing amount of boredom.  Same old, same old.  Idiot
does something stupid and gets killed.  Good ol' coroner
has to cut em up and find out whodunit and all that...

She shook her head harshly, surprised at her poor state of
mind.  What on Earth had gotten her into this mood?
Goodness, she was feeling negative...

Absently, she reached over and turned the dial on the radio.

"Mr. Nightcrawler?  I was wondering if you could give me
some advice, I listen to your show _ALL_ the time..."

A female voice swooned over the radio and Nat rolled her
eyes in disgust.  How had her radio been turned to _this_
station?  Her hand whipped across the desk and was almost
going to turn the dial when she decided to give it a few
minutes.  Maybe hearing this pessimistic stuff would knock
her out of her own rotten mood.  After all, things always
seem brighter when you look at pitch-black...

"Charmed..." LaCroix answered suavely, the sarcasm dripping
from his oozing voice.

Nat smirked as she settled her head on her hands to listen.
She couldn't believe people actually called in...

"Well see, it's about this guy.  He doesn't notice me at
all!  Nightcrawler, I really need help.  You must have
people drooling over you all the time, how can I do it like
you?"

LaCroix chuckled forebodingly.  "Maybe he doesn't notice
you," he paused for dramatic effect and continued, "because
you don't deserve to be noticed..."

"But, Nightcrawler..."  The caller was cut off abruptly as
LaCroix disconnected her and Nat couldn't help but laugh.
This was actually kind of amusing.  Just how many callers
did LaCroix just dismiss like that?"

"It's been a pleasure my children, but time is running
short.  Time is _always_ running out.  Your clocks are
ticking down towards death, and mine towards eternity.
On that note, I shall take my leave of... hrwph!"  LaCroix
stopped his discourse suddenly and let out a small chuckle.

Natalie subconsciously leaned in towards the radio.  What
was that?  Why had he stopped in mid-speech?  She heard
mumbling in the background, a crash, a few muttered
obscenities and then a harsh electronic screech as someone
grabbed the mike and began to speak.

"Pardon me for that interrupTIONACK!  hehehehe!"  LaCroix
started chuckling very loudly and Nat stared at the radio in
amazement.  What on earth?

"OOOOOOH, Nicholas!  Stop it!  You know I'm ticklish
therrrrrrrrACK!  Hohoho!  HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Natalie clapped her hands to her face in amazement.
Nicholas?  As in Nick?  She shook her head...  Naaaaaah.  He
wouldn't do something like that.  Not only because he just
didn't do stuff like that, but because LaCroix would kill
him for it, at least based on what she'd heard about Nick's
dictatorial master.

"Ha!  Consider this payback for the pink marshmallow
incident!"  Nick's voice rang clear through the radio's
speakers as LaCroix continued to laugh uncontrollably.  Nat
was floored.  Absolutely floored.  Not only that it was
Nick, but... pink marshmallow incident???

"That was HEHEHEOOOOH HAHAHAHAHAHA, that was Janette!  I
swear!  I only did the AEIIIIIIII!! The supERGLue and
PAINT!"  There was a thump as more giggling raided the
airwaves.  It sounded like LaCroix had fallen to the
floor...  Natalie strained to hear what was going on, and
she could vaguely make out what was being said.

"Paint?  Superglue?!  What superglue??!!!"

"Ooops... HEHEHEHEHEHA!  I thought ohoh STOP!  That's
driving me nuts! that you'd seen it already!"

"WHAT SUPERGLUE????  WHAT PAINT???"  Natalie broke out
laughing at Nick's perplexed/angered/annoyed/pleading tone,
wincing when she heard LaCroix grunt like he was being
shook.

"Your pretty green CAR isn't GREEN anyHEHEHEHEHEHmore!"

"AEEIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!  I'll GET YOU!!!!!"  Nicholas
cried as if he'd actually been hurt.  Natalie smiled.  He
had always been protective of his car...

There was a crash and then fleeing footsteps.  Silence.  Nat
turned the volume all the way up, but it was no use.
Whatever had been going on was finished.  She giggled when
she thought of those two chasing each other all over Toronto.
How often did they do stuff like this?  She'd gotten the
impression that Nick absolutely hated LaCroix, and here
she'd heard him not only engaging in a tickle fight with
him, but it had been revealed that they had done a lot of
pranks on each other...

She chuckled.  The chuckled quickly turned into a snort and
a laugh, and pretty soon, she was on the floor rolling in
laughter.  LaCroix had painted Nick's Caddy.  And she didn't
even want to know what the thing about the pink marshmallows
was...  Man o' man...  Talk about a good bad mood buster.
She laughed until she lay panting on the floor, exhausted
with tears flowing swiftly down her cheeks.

"Nat?!" Nick exclaimed as he walked into the morgue.

She looked up from the floor to see his concerned blue eyes
peering down at her.  Damn, how long had she been on the
floor?  "Yes, Nick?" she asked innocently as she got up off
the cold tiles.

"What _were_ you doing?"

"Stretching.  Autopsies make my muscles tense," she said
seriously, not wishing to tell Nick that she'd seen through
his little "I hate my life, I can't escape from LaCroix,
just let me become mortal and die" facade.  "Ahem," she
cleared her throat experimentally, "but why are you here?"
she asked innocently.  Well, she actually _didn't_ know
why he was here...

"It's 5:30, you asked me to pick you up...  We have a date
remember?" he questioned her with a look of concern marring
his beautiful face.

Nat sighed in relief.  Yes, they did.  She and him were
supposed to watch movies at the loft.  "Oh yeah!  Let me
get my purse..."  She paused as she thought about the body
still lying on the table.  Oh well.  The lab techs would
pick it up.

Nick looked at her strangely through the whole ordeal, and
she secretly loved all the attention she was getting.  She
obediently let him lead her out through the winding hallways
of the Coroners' Building and out into the lightening
outdoors.  Luckily, Nick still had a good thirty minutes
before he really needed to be inside...

She looked down the walk towards his usual illegal parking
space and did a double take.  It was flamingo pink.  PINK!
And a banner in ghastly puke green paint was glued onto the
side that said: 'I'm a monster in the morning without my cup
o' cow'.

Nick saw where her glance was directed.  "Sorry, I didn't
have time to clean it up.  Some vandals did it, I don't know
how..." he hedged, looking back and forth from her to the
Caddy nervously.

Nat desperately tried to keep the serious look on concern on
her face, but all was lost when Nick went ahead of her to
open the door for her.  Taped on his back, was a sheet of
notebook paper that simply stated 'Kick me, I'm a crusader,
I can take it!'

She doubled over laughing as she felt Nick's cold hands
enclosing her in an embrace.  "Nat?  What the Hell is wrong
with you?!"

But she couldn't answer.  She was laughing too hard.

THE END